On officiation and pronunciation

My position on basketball officiating in the ACC -- and football officiating too, for that matter -- is generally less extreme and alarmist than the view held by the folks who believe there's a sinister, relentless conspiracy against Clemson.

There's bad officiating, sure. But typically the bad officiating goes both ways, and the calls that go against Clemson are going to be remembered much more than those that go in favor of Clemson.

With that contextual preamble out of the way, last night was extraordinarily frustrating to watch. And that's coming from someone who is not emotionally invested in the outcome.

How to put this? When some of the calls by the refs are worse than the call of the game by ESPN's Mike Patrick, you know it's bad.

Brad Brownell seemed pretty proud of his guys after the game. It was a gutty showing in a stifling environment, and the Tigers successfully fought through multiple knockout punches that would've sent weaker teams reeling to one of those 25-point pastings that are standard at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

And last night's game really didn't mean a whole lot relative to the ACC standings. The Tigers could walk away feeling pretty good about themselves as they direct all their energy to Saturday's big game against Virginia Tech.

But still...

Regardless of all that, there has to be a sour taste left over from some truly inexplicable calls during a crucial stretch of the game. Brownell isn't going to publicly trash the officiating, but some of the "you're joking, right?" looks he gave to the refs during the game provided a pretty good indication of his thoughts on the matter, I'd assume.

Welcome to the ACC, Coach Brownwell ... er ... Brownlee ... er ... Brownell.

Officials are going to make mistakes, but it's troubling when their mistakes change the momentum of a game. There's no doubt whatsoever that such a sequence unfolded halfway through the second half last night.

Duke is up 50-48. The Tigers have just battled back on the strength of the identity they've shown all season: great defense leading to high-percentage baskets.

The Blue Devils miss a shot. Kyle Singler goes up for the rebound over Milton Jennings. Singler falls backward and takes extra steps. Jennings is called for a foul.

Jennings barely touched Singler, if he touched him at all. Awful call. Awful.

Mason Plumlee dunks to make it a four-point game. Demontez Stitt gets the ball in the backcourt and is guarded closely by Tyler Thornton. There's some contact, definitely more contact than in the previous sequence with Singler and Jennings. Stitt takes an extra step and loses the ball.

Traveling on Stitt. Duke ball.

The Blue Devils are fouled a few moments later and make one of two free throws. Singler rebounds the miss on the second attempt. Duke scores, and Clemson is in a seven-point hole.

So that's essentially a five-point trip down the floor for the Blue Devils, enabled by two calls that were at best -- at best -- woefully inconsistent.

We could sit here and say it's not that big a deal, it was only two calls, Clemson got some calls too, bla, bla, bla.

But this is Cameron Indoor Stadium, halfway through the second half of a tight game, and there's a major second-half momentum shift that's enabled by poor officiating.

I feel your pain, Clemson fans. I feel your frustration.

And I also feel like my 3-year-old daughter should apply for Patrick's play-by-play position, because I'm certain she could learn how to pronounce "Brownell."

Bless Len Elmore's heart. Surely he earned some points from the orange-clad folks for pointing out the ineptitude of the officiating last night (including, by the way, the failed 10-second call on Duke when everyone in the building knew it was a violation).

Not only does Elmore have the guts to call things as he sees them, but he has the patience to sit through a two-hour broadcast with a blabbering buffoon.

Never been a fan of Patrick, in large part because of bizarre episodes such as this, so you could say I'm a little biased on this topic.

But surely everyone can agree on this contention: If Patrick is given repeated opportunities to correctly pronounce the name of a head coach during a broadcast, and the coach's name is not "Bzdelik," Patrick should be summarily demoted if he cannot fulfill the task.

First he calls Brownell "BrownWELL." Then he spends the rest of the broadcast calling him "BrownLEE."

He did manage to get it right at one point in the second half, surely at the urging of either Elmore or the producer in his ear.

But not even two minutes later, he was back to "Brownwell."

Not trying to completely trash the guy, because we all make mistakes. But he comes off as someone who's so impressed with himself that he's completely oblivious to how silly he sounds.

Not even Patrick was oblivious to the officiating blunders that marred this game.

Even a clown can spot that circus.

LW